Shades and honey
by phantonlikegirl
Summary: Little Gaara finds an enchanting friend...


'_May your shades be sweet…'_

Chibi Gaara was resting on a small cradle, in a tiny children's park. There were a lot of them playing with their ball, ignoring him totally, since his place was on a hill, a bit higher than them.

He was watching them hopelessly, as he thought that he would be forever alone. He didn't like that at all. Everyone looked at him with great fear and they would call him "creature", "monster", nasty names which he could not understand why.

He couldn't understand why Temari and Kankurou, his elder brothers were treated like normal, while he, the smallest in his family had to deal with mistreatment every second and every minute of the day.

He held his teddy-bear in one of his arms, as he swung slightly in the cradle.

He felt once more alone and forgotten by everyone, and he couldn't understand why this was happening to him, why he was chosen to bear such a harsh burden like loneliness.

Suddenly, as his eyes watched the ball jump around, forced by the playful children's legs, he seemed to have heard some kind of music from somewhere.

Someone was playing some sort of music somewhere. No one seemed to have noticed it. He got off his little cradle and looked around to see someone with a possible music instrument. He didn't observe anything odd.

The Hidden Village of Suna was having its typical peaceful activity, without any of the people around appearing to be more different than usual.

He ran down the hill, curious of the music sounds which now became much more visible to his ears.

He backed away considerably from the little children's garden, and in the end he could not hear the kids playing and fooling around with the ball or their other toys.

He ended up in a miserable narrow street. It was almost dark outside and the sky was filled with stars. It was quiet around and no one was there anymore.

He felt that he couldn't even hear what few people – who were left on the streets at this late hour - were saying.

Still, the song remained hearable and even words attached to the melody.

They were something like this: _"'I could look in your face for a thousand years. It's like a civil war of pain and of chills. And if you was a horse, I could help you with your chains. I could ride you through the fields by your firing name. . I'd write down into my book; there's no one who could safe you…"_

It was the voice of a girl's. Soon, he faced the back of a wretched house, which had absence of what a common and normal house would have. It hadn't a door, nor did it have proper windows. The door was replaced by a black cloth and it was heavily blowing by the cold wind outside.

Little Gaara felt the freezing coil through his small white shirt. He gulped frightened and stretched his hand to take away the cloth and see what was going on.

The voice of the girl inside continued on singing:

"…_she's returning to the earth, but one day, she'll be silver. Stars are dying in my chest till I see you again. She was born with the wings of a hawk. Now she comes a hell with_ _blood…'_

He took the cloth away and looked inside. The only light came from a small insignificant candle, on a little wooden table.

There was no one there, except a young girl who held a rotten music instrument which looked like a guitar. The sweet voice came from her.

Now released of any fear, the little boy came inside the house.

The girl had her eyes closed, so she couldn't see who had come in. She was continuously singing the same song, with different words, in a quiet scenario. Little Gaara of the desert sat down in front of her and gathered his tiny hands in his lap, watching the girl fascinated. He smiled joyfully. He had never seen anybody singing something before.

Everyone would fear him and would keep away from him without any particular reason whatsoever. She was a pretty young girl, who was singing a melody with a very sweet but yet rather thick voice, like that of a boy's.

Little Gaara stretched his hand and tried to touch her hand which held the guitar. She startled frightened and he backed up rapidly, also scared.

'Who are you?!' she burst out frightened. When her eyes met his – alarmed too – she covered her mouth, as her hand trembled.

Gaara didn't know what to do. Was she going to treat him the same way as the others? His eyes trembled and became turbulent, as his little body shook with fright and incapability of understanding why he was treated so badly, without any explanation.

His eyes turned wet with tears, as his little hands took hold of his forehead:

'N-no… why me…? I was just listening to you… please, don't run…'

'You're Gaara of the desert, aren't you? The Kazekage's son…'

His tiny fingers covered his mouth, as he harshly tried not to cry out too loud.

'Come closer…'

He trembled, as he raised his eyes with fright mixed with confusion.

He heard some noises around and felt her getting up.

'Don't leave me alone!' he cried again, scared. 'I don't want to be alone anymore!'

He suddenly commanded the sand unwillingly to catch her leg. She stopped, as she said softly:

'There's no need to stop me. I wasn't running away.'

Her voice was as soft as she was like singing. She didn't seem to be frightened anymore. He watched her shadow confused. Instantly, the room became lighter, as he saw her standing in front of a candelabrum. It held more candles lightened up now. She returned to her place and took her guitar in her lap. She was now revealed to him. Every feature of her face was pretty and she had nice warm purple eyes.

When she lifted her look to him, little Gaara rather startled frightened:

'D-don't turn me away… I only want to listen to you singing, I don't want to hurt you and…!'

'I know'.

She had smiled nicely. He startled frightened and confused again. Was she not… scared of him…?

'Come closer' she repeated again, softly.

As such, she also stretched her arm towards him, inviting him into her arms.

She smiled warmly and it made him startle, as he drew closer to her. She got up on her feet and lifted him up, on her arms. She smiled visibly now, as she revealed herself being a tall older girl than him. She was even older than his sister, Temari. She must have been 8 or maybe 10 years older than him.

'You are so small…' she smiled, as she watched him. His little arms grabbed her shoulders and watched her. His eyes were filled with tears, but managed to draw a smile.

'You have such tiny _everything_s' she laughed and giggled, then put herself down, with him, in her lap. She now protected his back of any kind of coldness or anything harmful. He felt like he was riding a horse, with her at his back. He startled when she lifted her guitar and grabbed it with both her hands:

'I shall sing for you all night, little Gaara of the desert'

She started to move the wires of the guitar, as she headed back to her original song.

He smiled joyfully, as his heart began to feel relieved of this burden of being a monster to anyone in Suna. She was a girl who hadn't feared him after all.

'_I could look in your face for a thousand years. It's like a civil war of pain and of chills. And if you was a horse, I could help you with your chains. I could ride you through the fields by your firing name. _

_may your shade be sweet_

_and float upon the lakes where the sun will be made of honey_

_I'd write down into my book_

_there's no one who could safe you_

_she's returning to the earth_

_but one day, she'll be silver_

_the stars are dying in my chest_

_till I see you again_

_she was born with the wings of a hawk_

_now she comes a hell with blood_

_may your shade be sweet_

_and float upon the lakes where the sun will be made of honey"_

Soon, his eyes closed and even though his body had refused several times to sleep, the song in his mind had confused his brain system. He started to hear more voices than just one, even those being as soft and as sweet as the girl's. The guitar's noises were neutralized and covered by other sounds, much stronger and much more beautifully arranged. He felt the sounds of the wires becoming mechanized, like tiny vibrations of his brain.

"…_but if you was a horse, I could help you with your chains…" _

Time had stopped. There was silence and he was drowned into a word parted from reality.

"…_stars are dying in my chest till I see you again. She was born with the wings of a hawk… now she comes with a hell of blood…"_

Those vibrations again, so nicely heard in his ears… his eyes closed the instant both of his eyelids touched. He several times tried to open them, but did not succeed. He felt the girl's body warming him up and he felt like he was lying in a comfy and cozy bed. He let his head on her chest, sleeping on what he felt like two warm pillows. His little arm grabbed the girl's blouse and finally fell asleep. The vibrations in his head kept anything from his mind to interfere with his sleep, nor his dreams.

The sand from inside the house rose up and formed a sort of protective wall, to keep the cold from coming inside the house.

The tears kept on coming out from his little jaded tired eyes, but a soft foreign touch took them away. He felt a warm and larger hand than his coming through his reddish hair delicately caressing him. The voice continued in his mind:

"…'_I could look in your face for a thousand years. It's like a civil war of pain and of chills. And if you was a horse, I could help you with your chains. I could ride you through the fields by your firing name…" _

Both her arms held him tight, warming him up and giving him that complete protective feeling that nothing in the world would happen to harm him in this moment, as long as she would be with him.

"…_may your shades be sweet… and float upon the lakes where the sun will be made of honey…"_

'Don't cry, little Gaara…' she said softly and kissed the top of his head, in between his reddish hair. She caressed him continuously, as a mother would do.

"…_may your shades be sweet…"_

The vibrations were gone now. Little Gaara utterly fell asleep. He till felt her arms and her deep boy-like voice, singing her song; but not for long. His tired little body sunk into a sea of dreams for possibly the first time…

"…_stars are dying in my chest till I see you again… she was born with the wings of a hawk… now, she comes with a hell of blood… may your shades be sweet…" _


End file.
